Night Shift Mischief: Capture the Flag
by ImaSupernaturalCSI
Summary: It's the Cowboys vs. the Giants in a rousing game of Capture the Flag. There is no such thing as a BORING night shift!
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I am proud to bring yet another installment to the "Night Shift Mischief" series! If you're new to the fun, check out "Twenty Questions," "I Never," and "Hide and Seek!"**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of CSI:NY, they are the property of Anthony E. Zuiker and CBS.**

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"Nice to see you all again," Dr. Marty Pino greeted his fellow night shift incarcerated co-workers.

Danny and Lindsay looked very unhappy. They could think of so many _better_ ways to spend a night. None of the scenarios involved work...well, okay, _one_ of Danny's did. "Oh, come _on_, guys!" Marty said. He was grinning ear to ear. "I have the best idea ever."

"Oh really." Danny didn't sound impressed. "What might that be?"

Marty couldn't stop smiling. "Let's wait till everyone gets here." He was hopping from one foot to the other, like a little kid at Christmas time.

The elevator pinged and Adam Ross and Dr. Sid Hammerback stepped onto the 35th floor. Adam offered a wave. "Hi."

"Hey Adam," Lindsay said. She looked over at Marty. "All right, Pino. What's your wild and crazy idea?"

Marty reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out two handkerchiefs. One was blue, and one was orange. "Marty, do you buy everythin' in Giants colors?" Danny asked him.

"Everything including my underwear," Marty shot back.

"There's a visual I could have lived without," Sid said. He nodded to the handkerchiefs. "So what are those for? You know, I played a game in college once with a few girls and my roommates. We blindfolded each other and then-"

"STOP!" yelled Danny, Lindsay, Adam and Marty.

"Anyway," Marty continued with a death glare at Sid, "when you guys were kids did you ever go to summer camp and play 'Capture the Flag?'"

Lindsay snorted. "Pino, you're not serious?"

He spread his hands wide. "My dear Miss Monroe, can you think of something _better_ to do?"

Lindsay, sadly, could come up with nothing, which is why she ended up on a team with Adam and Danny, and was now taping a line down the rough middle of the lab. "God I hope Mac doesn't come in early tomorrow morning," she said. She stuck the line down at the end. "There. Now what?"

"Now we hide our flags," Marty said. He and Sid were the other team. Marty was convinced that Danny and Lindsay needed Adam more than the medical examiners did. Adam was a little put out until Danny told him he was smarter _and_ better-looking than Marty, and that they'd rather have him than Sid.

"Wait, wait. We need rules," Lindsay said. "First off, flags have to be in plain sight. No hiding them in drawers, on your person...or in appliances," she said with a glance at Marty. During their first shift with him, Marty Pino had managed to squeeze himself into the refrigerator in the break room. It was how Mac first began to realize his team may not have been taking their night shifts seriously.

Marty only grinned and wagged his eyebrows mischievously.

"We can deal with that," Sid said. "Second rule?"

"One person always has to stay back to guard the flag," Lindsay said.

"That puts us at a disadvantage," Marty immediately spoke up.

"Marty, you coulda had Adam," Danny pointed out. "Your loss, and now you gotta deal with it."

"Anything else?" Sid asked.

"If you get the flag you have to keep it in sight. No sticking it in a pocket...or anywhere else, Marty," Danny spoke up.

"That's just gross," Marty said innocently. "Anything else, Messer? Monroe?...Whatever your last name is?"

"It's Ross," Adam said, slightly miffed.

"Right right." Marty clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "So. Are we ready for this?"

"Hold up," Danny said.

"What, Messer?" Marty asked.

"We need team names. That's the best part of the whole damn thing."

"Danny, no we don't." That was from Lindsay.

He grinned. "C'mon, Montana, it'll be fun. I think we should be the Death Squad."

"I think not," Adam said.

"We're the Giants," Marty said.

Danny threw his hands in the air. "Why am I not surprised."

"Then in all fairness, we should be the Cowboys," Lindsay said with a sideways look at Danny.

He grinned, catching the reference. "I can do that."

"I can handle that," Adam agreed.

"_Now_ that we have the final opinion of Rich, can we please get started?"

"It's _Ross. _And let's do this thing," Adam said, more forcefully than either Danny or Lindsay would have given him credit for. The young man suddenly looked very determined.

"One minute to hide the flag," Sid said. "Go."


	2. Chapter 2

One minute later, the lab was a battleground. On one side, Danny, Lindsay and Adam were planning strategy. "All we have to do is get close enough to see it, then plan a distraction and someone else can sneak over and get it."

"Let Marty get over here," Adam said. "I'll take care of him. I'll watch the flag. You guys are sneakier."

"Okay," Danny said. "Uh oh, here comes trouble now." He could just make out the top of Marty's hair as he ducked into Stella's office. He had crossed the line. He was in enemy territory. "Good luck, Adam."

"Thanks," the very determined Adam Ross said. Danny and Lindsay didn't have time to dwell on Adam's evil plot. Instead, they inched up on the line, "ignoring" Marty Pino. They stepped over the line. Sid Hammerback stepped into the hall, and Lindsay and Danny scrambled into the AV lab. The glass walls really made the game more complicated, because it was so much harder to hide.

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Marty Pino had watched Messer and Monroe slide right by them. He grinned. _This was almost too easy!_ He tiptoed past Trace and looked. The flag was sticking out of one of the picture frames in Mac Taylor's office. Marty ducked back into Trace as Adam Ross stepped cautiously into the hallway. He looked around, then turned and headed the opposite direction. Marty had to keep from laughing.

He was gonna take the flag right out from under the kid's nose.

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Sid had heard footsteps, but knew that if he left the flag, they would probably go around him somehow. They had stuck their blue flag on a pencil, and stuck the pencil upright in a sample tray in DNA. It was obvious enough. He stepped across into Ballistics, keeping one eye on the flag, and another down the hall.

Then he saw it. Danny and Lindsay were working in tandem, and they were making their move. Danny came sprinting, heading for DNA. Sid exploded from Ballistics and took off after him. Danny threw open the door to the DNA lab, Sid hot on his heels. Danny made it to one side of the table, and was now facing Sid on the other. Sid was nearer to the flag. Danny would have had to hurdle the table _and_ Sid to get it.

"There's no way, logically, that you and Lindsay can both be in here to get the flag. One of you will get caught. There isn't enough room to move around," Sid was telling Danny.

"Okay, so ya caught me, Doc," Danny said. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the door to DNA slide open and close on its own. "Maybe I should just let ya get me, make the teams a little more even, huh?"

Sid shrugged. "Marty's mostly talk. Next time, put me on a team with someone who won't go on about the NFL? I'd rather watch a good wrestling match."

"You're into wrestling? UFC or WWE?" Danny couldn't resist asking. It actually wasn't a stalling tactic, he really was curious.

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Marty went into Mac Taylor's office and plucked the flag off the frame. He almost sent the frame crashing to the ground, and hung it back up. He looked around. The goofy lab tech was nowhere to be found. Grinning triumphantly, Marty sauntered back to the door.

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Lindsay Monroe kept down on the ground and very quiet as she crawled past Sid's legs. She had to shake her head. Sid Hammerback was the most observant person she knew, but he wasn't catching this. Carefully, Lindsay stood, still out of Sid's peripheral vision, unless he would turn around. She plucked the flag from the tray. But before she could get down to crawl back out again, she accidentally bumped into the counter, sending shocks of pain up her funny bone, and couldn't help but cry out. "Ow!"

Sid whirled. He was less than five feet from her. "Very sneaky, Danny," he complimented him.

Danny shrugged. "No problem."

Sid took off after Lindsay. But Lindsay was willing to take one for the team. She stayed right where she was, and before Sid could tag her, she balled the handkerchief up and whipped it, fast-pitch style, to Danny. Danny took off out of the lab.

Sid looked over at Lindsay. "You two make a good team."

She shrugged. "We do, don't we?" She smiled at Sid. "Come on, let's go watch the game end. I want to see what Adam has in store for Marty."

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Marty was twenty feet from the line. He kept moving quietly, although was confident that Adam Ross was somewhere on the other side of the building.

Ten feet. Marty kept walking. On the other side of the line, he saw Danny Messer come running, blue handkerchief in hand. _Dude, I could so tag him on our side and still have our flag. We'd pull a double whammy!_

Five feet. Marty was going to make the line before Danny.

Adam Ross exploded out of nowhere, coming down the hall at a dead sprint, his socks and shoes laid carefully back in the Trace lab. Before Marty Pino knew what hit him, Adam had tackled him around the ankles, bringing him to the floor just inches short of the line. Marty hit hard, the breath knocked out of him.

"W-wha-?" He looked back. Adam Ross stood over him, a look of triumph in his eyes. "I did track in high school," Adam informed him. "I wasn't just the science geek."

Danny whistled as he sauntered back across the line. "Nice tackle, Adam," he complimented the tech.

Adam grinned. "Thanks. You guys get the flag?"

Danny nodded, holding it up for Adam to see.

"Cool." Adam looked down at Marty with another grin before finally offering a hand to the ME. Marty accepted it, having been firmly put in his place.

Their fun over, the crew did go back to work and actually got caught up on all their results and projects. They were hard at work when Mac Taylor and Stella Bonasera got into work at five a.m. Mac looked hard, but he couldn't find anything wrong with the place. Could it be his CSIs had actually learned to _work_? He told Stella he'd see her later, then went into his office.

Something didn't look right. Mac studied the room. Then he spotted it. One of his US Marine Corps awards was off kilter on the wall. He slowly got up, went over to look at it. It was a little crooked, and he spotted a blue fiber stuck to the corner. He shook his head. He went into the Trace lab and handed it to Danny in a sealed evidence bag. "Run this for me. Top priority."

Danny didn't think anything of it. He ran the sample. Two hours later, he handed the results back to Mac. "Synthetic. Cotton."

Marty Pino came down the hallway, dressed in scrubs now, but with his blue handkerchief sticking out of his pocket. Mac looked at Danny and raised his eyebrow. Danny bit his lip. "See ya tomorrow night?"

"You better believe it," Mac said. Stella stuck her head out and was listening to the exchange. "What the hell were you doing _last_ night?" he asked Danny.

Danny didn't see the point in lying. Lindsay and Adam were eavesdropping in the break room. "Capture the Flag," he said.

Stella put a hand over her mouth in disbelief. Mac opened his mouth to say something, then just shook his head. "See you tomorrow night," he said, loud enough for Adam and Lindsay to hear. Then he went back into his office.

Stella came up to Danny. "You guys were playing Capture the Flag in the lab?"

Danny nodded. "There wasn't anything else to do..."

Stella kept her voice low as she said, "I used to play that game at camps all the time." She looked back at Mac's office, then said, "Next time you play, give me a call."

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**This story series works off of reviews! I thought up capture the flag, but if you've got an idea for a CLEAN game to make a boring night at work go faster, drop me a review, and the next one I write might just have your suggestion! **


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